Targeting of various forms is extremely valuable in online advertising, as well as providing content more generally, and can dramatically enhance advertisement campaign performance and return on investment for online advertising spend. Online, circumstances and behavior of individual users can be tracked very granularly and on an individual user basis, allowing a previously unprecedented level and precision in targeting.
For example, in sponsored search, users are targeting based on, among other things, search queries entered into search engines. The semantics of search queries offers powerful insight into the interests and intentions of particular users, thereby providing a great targeted resource. Online semantics, including keywords appearing in content or documents, user interest categories, etc., are utilized in many ways to enhance relevance and targeting.
Emotional targeting, by contrast, remains a vast, potent, and largely untapped resource on the Web. In dramatically increasing fashion, users are able to express themselves emotionally on the Web. Social networking and real-time interaction provide huge levels of emotionally rich communication. Rich media, including audio and video, provide unprecedented opportunities for users to share their emotions and emotionally charged experiences. Furthermore, if facilitated, tapped, and recognized, direct and indirect online behavioral clues abound regarding users' emotions and emotional patterns.
Emotional state at a given time obviously and powerfully affects human behavior, including online behavior. Yet emotional targeting online remains a dramatically untapped and potent resource.
There is a need for techniques for use in emotional targeting, as well as related and other areas.